I don't care how cool it is, if it costs a half a million dollars, I don't need to talk to someone about it.
Fwiw, I have no idea what kind of relationship you have with your uncle, but if
my nieces and nephews decided to enter 3d and chose something other than Maya, they would be cutting themselves off from a very valuable resource, not because I would not be willing to help with 3ds, xsi or whatever, but because I only know maya - he may even have access to software, people and jobs.